The solution is designed to help hospitals assess the cleanliness of a surface and validate the efficacy of cleaning protocols and worker performance in less than one minute.
The Clean-Trace System detects adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a substance found in all living cells and present on any contaminated surface.
Samples from high-touch surfaces in a hospital such as bed rails, light switches or nurse call buttons are collected using the 3M Clean-Trace ATP Surface Test.
If the test picks up any organic material (ATP), it will emit light in direct proportion to the contamination level which can be read and quantified by the hand-held 3M Clean-Trace NGi Luminometer.
Data collected can be uploaded to the 3M Clean-Trace Online Software which provides the users advanced data analysis with tracking and includes automatic report generation.
3M Infection Prevention Division president and general manager Debra Rectenwald said this ATP Hygiene Management System is a tool which revolutionize environmental hygiene and is a key part of their mission to put together all the elements of a superior hygiene monitoring solution.
"In addition, 3M offers education, protocols, service, compliance tools and a cleaning portfolio, all of which round out our full range of Environmental Hygiene Solutions for our customers’ infection prevention arsenals," Rectenwald said.
3M expects to introduce Clean-Trace applications for surgical instruments and endoscopes later in 2011.
